Cecil Rhodes

Cecil Rhodes (5 July 1853-26 March 1902) was Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 17 July 1890 to 12 January 1896, succeeding and preceding John Gordon Sprigg. As the leader of the British South Africa Company, he colonized much of southern Africa for the United Kingdom, and the colony of Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) was named for him.

Biography
Cecil Rhodes was born on 5 July 1853 in Hertfordshire, England, the son of a vicar. A sickly child, he was sent to Africa at the age of 17 due to the rumors that the continent had the cures to many illnesses, and Rhodes entered the diamond trade in Kimberley in 1871. Rhodes became the head of the British South Africa Company and De Beers diamond company, and in 1880 he entered the Cape Colony Parliament before being elected Prime Minister in 1890. Rhodes exited from office in 1896 after the failed First Boer War, but he was a popular figure among the British for colonizing much of Africa for the British Empire. Rhodes died on 26 March 1902 of heart failure at the age of 48. He was loved by the British, whom he described as "the finest race in the world" and reasoned that the world would be better if they ruled over more of it; he was hated by Africans for advocating colonialism, calling them a subject race and barbarians, and for starting the road to apartheid in South Africa.